Design a Front End for the Spring Website.

[Argh]

Ok, instead of just talking about it... let's do it, fellow artists. I know that there are lots of you out there who would love to rebuild the frontend of this website. Let's build some gorgeous mockups, and get this done.

How should this work? Very simply put, I think entries should show the entire frontend, from the top to the bottom, with all major graphical areas and text defined. The objective of the contest is to make the coolest-looking, most useful website design you can. Do not feel like you should just re-arrange the current elements- think in new directions, visualize what you think Spring's about, and how you want to communicate that to people worldwide. Eliminate stuff that doesn't work, in your opinion. Change the emphasis, show users what they need to know about. Think about positive ways to emphasize what Spring can really do.

Contest entries should consist of a fully-rendered design, with all graphical elements and text complete. Not just a topbar- we need a whole design, to give people a definite feeling about the message we want to convey and wow people with a professional look.

Contest entries should also have a functional mockup of the layout elements, showing what's a static picture, what's a dynamic text area for a RSS feed, etc.

[AF]

In my opinion a functioning prototype shouldn't be necessary, if anything it would put some people off participating. I would like to see why things are the way they are though.

[Argh]

I didn't mean code-complete, AF. Just graphically. New ideas about how to get people to see Spring as a RTS game engine first, with sexy games "powered by Spring", instead of a project that's "running content from the game Total Annihilation".

I want to see something that changes people's perception, and their visual priorities, when they hit the website. For example, I'm going to do a design where I put a screenie from a game front and center- show people the action, get them excited... and downplay stuff like release notes, etc., which should never be front-page news for a really sexy project imo.

[Zpock]

I personally really like the current very low amount of visual noise and simple design.

Why would an engine have a flashy site? Shouldn't the games themselves have that?

[Argh]

Great, build on that- give us a minimalist vision. Clean, elegant and to-the-point.

My big beef, personally, is with the wall-of-text effect of the current site, where it doesn't take users straight to the meat.

Meh, I've really, really gotta go... I'll come back to this Sunday. Keep it clean, please, I know we have a lot of different opinions here, but the objective should be to make something that's win, not fight over nothing.

Why would an engine have a flashy site? Shouldn't the games themselves have that?

Id's engine site is flashy and sexy. So is Unreal Engine's, so is CryEngine, so is...

No. Go look at 'em. Come back to this. A game engine's site should be emphasizing the success and sex appeal of the projects built, or a-building, with them, in my opinion.

[kiki]

Thank you argh im on it :)

[SwiftSpear]

Great, build on that- give us a minimalist vision. Clean, elegant and to-the-point.

My big beef, personally, is with the wall-of-text effect of the current site, where it doesn't take users straight to the meat.

Meh, I've really, really gotta go... I'll come back to this Sunday. Keep it clean, please, I know we have a lot of different opinions here, but the objective should be to make something that's win, not fight over nothing.

Why would an engine have a flashy site? Shouldn't the games themselves have that?

Id's engine site is flashy and sexy. So is Unreal Engine's, so is CryEngine, so is...

No. Go look at 'em. Come back to this. A game engine's site should be emphasizing the success and sex appeal of the projects built, or a-building, with them, in my opinion.

I like the wiki based site idea we are currently running... but I mean, realistically, even our "features" section hasn't been updated in a million years.

If you're a new developer, wanting to start a project for spring, there is basically no where to go to figure out how to do stuff, other than talking to people who already know. And if you're new, you probably don't know who those people are.

[AF]

As I understand it tims effort was overkill, and totally unnecessary at that.

Our site could be redone with everything tim wanted with ease using dokuwiki and phpbb3 and custom themes, the odd plugin. All the translations the integration all taken care of, all the user access controls everything.

[rattle]

Long flametrap/reaction phishing speech about how this is a waste of time; also backup for Zpock's statement.

[Vadi]

As long as there is a big clear Download button, and the website isn't just a huge wall of text, we're good.

Also the website's goals need to be set - ie, what is it supposed to do. I think the most logical thing it should do it educate the user about the different mods he can get, and offer a way to get them easily. Same for maps.

(while a mod's website should focus on the mod itself, and an easy way to get the mod)

What do others think?

[SwiftSpear]

As I understand it tims effort was overkill, and totally unnecessary at that.

Our site could be redone with everything tim wanted with ease using dokuwiki and phpbb3 and custom themes, the odd plugin. All the translations the integration all taken care of, all the user access controls everything.

I'd still be willing to use tim's site if someone made it look nice.

[theHive]

...
Also the website's goals need to be set - ie, what is it supposed to do. I think the most logical thing it should do it educate the user about the different mods he can get, and offer a way to get them easily. Same for maps.
...
What do others think?

See, we need to work out exactly what we want to do here. If we want games ('mods') to promote themselves then the Spring website should really just advertise the engine. It should have a section with "games utilising the Spring engine" or something, but the primary focus should be the engine itself.

Then again, if we're not expecting each game to advertise itself then the Spring site is probably going to end up being far more cluttered and, as a result, less attractive.

[AF]

I think we should focus on making the site as it is presentable and function properly, while encouraging the various content creators to build or recruit website builders.

I have plenty of web space for anyone wanting a website hosted so hosting is not an issue.

[Machiosabre]

it's a bit overcomplicated, but I think people will figure out what to do.

[Vadi]

The thing is, that right now, it's springs website mainly tanking the marketing for mods (because most links on the net point to it). We can't just really reverse that role, so the "games utilizing spring" section will be quite important.

Also, just a minor suggestion, but is there a possibility of a CMS (wiki-like website maker/managerment things) being used? We might have a web design genius here, but in case he's gone, not many mortals will be able to maintain/improve on the website. While a CMS is quite easy to understand, so people could still be able to keep the site up.

[Argh]

Less talk, more pictures. I'll come back with my take on this Sunday. Let's say that Machio has the basic idea... less text, much stronger visuals, and gets to the point right away, with clear, visual directions showing users where to go...

[DemO]

I dont see how a public forum topic on this is going to help tbh. As usual there will just be an insanely large discussion with suggestions and counter-arguments with nothing done. How about you rack up the people who are capable of actually implementing something decent and either through a team effort or with individual submissions, MAKE SOMETHING.

Don't over complicate things. Make something with your own common sense and ideas in mind instead of getting into huge discussions over minor things that dont even have any relevance when no starting attempt has even been made.

Finally, after actually doing some work, introduce it to everyone publically on these forums, get feedback and work from there.

[Machiosabre]

Actually if anyone really wanted to do it, they should consider asking tobi or something, since there was already some guy designing a site and it'd be handy to know your work might not be a waste of time.

you could be all like:
hi tobi! In my opinion the spring site isn't that easy to use/ understand for people new to spring, how would you like me to make you a new page?

And maybe if he doesn't say no you could start about all your ideas, instead of throwing them in a big topic.

[Felix the Cat]

If anybody really wanted to do this, they would be working in paint/photoshop/gimp/creation tool of choice, rather than posting drama in this thread.

[Argh]

Yes. I guess I'm going to be the only entry, at this rate, the rest of this will be chatter. Meh.

Machio, why don't you post s'more mockup sketches, though? I'm not going to emulate your style, even though it's cute and might not be a bad thing, but I think that seeing people's ideas about layout would be helpful, when I sit down and render out the art.